


Knowing Each Other

by still_lycoris



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Aliens, Hypnotism, Implied/Referenced Mind Control, Injury, M/M, Resistance, Secret Identity, Self-Esteem Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:47:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25483426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/still_lycoris/pseuds/still_lycoris
Summary: When they are attacked by aliens, Rory and the Doctor get separated from Amy and have to deal with things on their own. Well, along with the Doctor's new friend ...
Relationships: Eleventh Doctor/Rory Williams, Eleventh Doctor/The Master (Dhawan)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 67
Collections: Rare Male Slash Exchange 2020





	Knowing Each Other

**Author's Note:**

  * For [listlessness](https://archiveofourown.org/users/listlessness/gifts).



Rory sat on the ground, knees held up to his chest and let himself briefly drift into a fantasy of a normal life. One where he was just a normal nurse and he and Amy lived in a house that didn’t move and was actually quite small and didn’t have weird passages that led to nowhere and were filled with the remnants of other people’s lives. A house that was just full of their _own_ life and where everything was normal.

Then he sighed and pushed the fantasy away. It would never have been like that anyway, not really. He loved Amy because she was lightning in a sieve. You couldn’t contain her, not without ruining her. He had never wanted to do that. He’d just been glad that she’d liked him enough to let him bask in that glow. And he didn’t hate travelling with the Doctor. Truly, he didn’t. The TARDIS was a beautiful, fascinating place and there were so many interesting bits and pieces there and the Doctor _always_ had a story about every single bit. And usually, if they were the bits about the old friends that had travelled with him, they had happy endings. They were people who had survived being with the Doctor and gone home – or elsewhere, the Doctor sometimes told wonderful stories about his friends moving on other planets – and had all enjoyed themselves. They were good stories.

He hoped they’d come true for him some day. Which was easier to believe some days than others.

This was not one of those days.

“Do you think Amy is all right?”

The Doctor gave him that extremely perky grin that could mean anything from “Everything is fine” to “Everything is on fire.”

“Of _course_ she’s all right! Amy’s brilliant! She’s out there somewhere doing all the Amy things that we like and we’ll find her soon!”

Well, that did sound like Amy. She was pretty good at getting out of situations, even dangerous ones with aliens. It was just that Rory liked to be with her – or have the Doctor be with her – while she did it. And the thing was, they weren’t. They’d only been out of the TARDIS for a few minutes before they’d been swarmed by the – actually, Rory wasn’t absolutely sure what they were, they were just alien things – and by the time they’d finished running, Amy wasn’t with them anymore. Rory had wanted to go back but the Doctor had shaken his head and said “That’s not the _best_ idea.” and then more alien things had buzzed out of the alley beside them and they’d had to run again. Which was why they were now barricaded in a warehouse and Rory was sitting on the floor while the Doctor checked for anything that might be lurking.

The Doctor seemed to realise that Rory wasn’t as reassured as he could be because he stopped leaping around and moved over, sitting down next to him in that gangly way that he had. Rory couldn’t help admiring how the Doctor somehow managed to get all of those legs wrapped up when he sat down. There was just so much of them. Not that he often looked at the Doctor’s legs exactly ...

“Don’t worry,” the Doctor said again, gently nudging him. “Dylldrians prefer to lay their eggs in males.”

“To ... to _what?_ ”

“Lay their eggs. That’s why they’re chasing us, you see, Dylldrians need hosts for their eggs so they pick a species and go for them. The chances are that Amy is quite safe because they’re very good at smelling out testosterone and ... you don’t look like this is making you feel any better ... ”

The Doctor looked a bit woebegone, as though confused that he was failing to cheer Rory up with his explanations. Rory tried to push the idea of having eggs laid in him out of his head – no easy task when he could hear the Dylldrians buzzing around outside still – and shrugged.

“So what are we going to do then?”

“Well. The thing is Rory, I haven’t _quite_ got that far yet. But I’ll think of something. You know me, I always think of something quite brilliant, when the time comes.”

Which, Rory thought, to be fair, he usually did. Sometimes a little bit too close to comfort though. 

“Do you think they’ll give up and go away?”

“No, not likely. Once they’ve smelt someone, they tend to keep following them. It can be a bit of a frenzy if a lot of them decide you smell nice, it’s ... not a story you need to hear any more about.”

Rory managed not to groan. He rummaged in his pockets to see what he had. Extra snack bars – always useful – and his mobile. Which _wasn’t_ very useful since Amy didn’t have hers and it wasn’t really as though he knew anybody to call.

“I don’t suppose ringing the police would do us any good,” he said dryly, checking for signal and finding there was one.

“Not unless we want them to be – oooh! Oooh, I think I know somebody!”

Rory blinked. The Doctor often did know people but they weren’t normally people that you could call on the phone. But the Doctor was grinning that grin that meant he was pretty sure that he was going to get them out of something and usually, when he grinned that grin, he was right. It was always good to see it – although sometimes it meant escalation before peace.

“We’ve been texting for ages,” the Doctor said, his fingers playing rapidly over the keys. “Normally through the TARDIS but I can let him know who I am, even through your little phone. He should be able to send someone!”

“Who is he?” Rory asked.

“Oh,” the Doctor said cheerfully. “Very smart. Very nice. Bit flirty sometimes ... naughty boy! Belongs to MI6 so he’s got some backing too, though I think I’ll just ask him not to bring _too_ many people along. We don’t want a lot of big men running around when the Dylldrians are swarming, do we ...?”

Rory wondered if the Doctor was going to get round to saying a name at any point. Possibly not, sometimes the Doctor seemed to forget that humans liked those more than a list of descriptors. It didn’t necessarily matter anyway, of course, but it would be nice to know what to call this smart, nice, bit-flirty man when they showed up.

His phone pinged several times and the Doctor grinned even wider, which was somehow always possible with him.

“Knew it!” he said. “Sit tight Rory Pond! Oh is on the way!”

“Oh ... his name is Oh?”

“Yes,” the Doctor said. “I said that, didn’t I?”

Rory cast his mind back over the Doctor’s ramblings and realised that yes, he had, it was just Rory hadn’t taken it in. He wondered if Amy would have known at once and it was just him being slow on the uptake again. Sometimes it was like that when he was with the Doctor.

There was a rather loud bang on the roof. Rory had a feeling that the buzzing had intensified. He looked at the Doctor and the Doctor looked back at him. His grin had faded a bit.

“Yes,” he said. “Well, I can’t really reach up there with the sonic screwdriver so ... let’s hope they don’t hit any weak points too many times ... ”

Rory tried not to groan. He wondered what Amy would be doing if she were here. Running around and telling the Doctor and him exactly what to do, probably. She always knew something. Rory was always the one that didn’t know as much.

“Hey, don’t look so worried!” the Doctor said, nudging him with one bony knee. “It’s going to be fine! Look at me! I’m not worried!”

“You’re not always worried at quite the right moment,” Rory couldn’t resist pointing out.

“I like to think I balance it out perfectly,” the Doctor said brightly.

Rory supposed he couldn’t argue with that. He tried not to wince at another bang on the roof and wondered if he wanted to ask for any more details about the egg-laying. He decided that ignorance was probably bliss in this case. The Doctor wasn’t offering information and usually, the Doctor liked nothing more than to tell you everything that was happening. Anything where he decided _not_ to share it ...

He wasn’t sure how long they sat in silence before his phone suddenly buzzed with a series of text messages. The Doctor read them, looking ridiculously pleased. Rory wondered what it said that he was already a bit jealous of someone who he had never actually met.

“All right,” the Doctor said “O is just outside. He’s managed to find a van. So here’s the plan, he’s going to back the van up to the doors, we’re going to open the doors and we’re going to jump in the van and close the van doors before the Dylldrians get in! Simple!”

“Is it?” Rory asked but the Doctor was already heading towards the doors. Rory leaped up to follow him, wanting to be close. He couldn’t help thinking that being far away from the Doctor at this point would lead to a lot more trouble than being near the Doctor. At least the loading doors opened inwards.

The Doctor’s hands were on the door when there was another crash from the ceiling and then unmistakable buzzing sound. Rory looked up to see a Dylldrian hurtling straight towards them. 

Or rather, straight for the Doctor.

He moved without thinking. Shoving the Doctor out of the way, he stepped forward and threw his arms up, hoping the sleeves of his jacket would somehow stop the rather horrible stinger that he could see aiming for him. He heard the Doctor shout and then felt an extremely sharp jab in his forearm – not thick enough sleeves then – and then everything, briefly went extremely hazy. He thought he could hear the Doctor shouting some more and then he was in a dark place that was quieter, but bounced. He felt that he ought to be able to put together what it was but somehow, his brain was much slower than usual. He could still hear the Doctor though, talking in that extremely fast way that he did sometimes.

“Don’t worry Rory, it’s all right, I got it off before it could lay any eggs, you’re all right, this is quite normal, though I can’t remember if you should be bleeding this much, is that normal? Why can’t humans just turn that off? It’s a design flaw, that’s what it is ... ”

Rory wondered lazily if the Doctor could just turn his own bleeding on and off. It wouldn’t surprise him. The Doctor could do all sorts of baffling things that humans couldn’t. It was rather wonderful, in a way. He couldn’t remember if he’d seen the Doctor bleed or not. Really, the amount of things the Doctor had come through unscathed was remarkable.

The bouncing had stopped and Rory realised that it had to have been movement. A van. The Doctor’s friend had a van. The Doctor had managed to get him into it then.

“Is he all right?” A new voice. The Doctor’s friend.

“Of course. He’s Rory!”

“I mean, do you want me to take him to a hospital?”

The new voice sounded faintly amused which at least suggested he was ready for the Doctor’s odd ways.

“Does he need one? If we take him somewhere we can’t lock him in, the Dylldrians might follow.”

“Hm, see your point. Better be my flat then, I can lock that off well and I have medical supplies that should work well enough, as long as it’s not too deep.”

Rory considered asking them not to talk about him as though he wasn’t there but decided that it was too much trouble. He let his attention wander again and his thoughts became less and less connected reality and he supposed that somewhere along the line, he had fallen asleep.

When he opened his eyes, he was lying on a couch. Someone had put a blanket over him and his arm was throbbing. Someone was sitting next to him and when Rory turned, he saw that it wasn’t the Doctor. Instead, it was a rather attractive man who smiled very warmly and gently patted Rory’s shoulder.

“Hello. Are you feeling better?”

“I think so,” Rory said, feeling embarrassed. Why was it that they always seemed to meet really good looking men when they were travelling with the Doctor? Really good looking men who made Rory feel awkward?

“Are you O?” he asked, hoping the he sounded intelligent.

“That’s me!” O said, sounding cheerful. “Well, you know. That’s my secret name. MI6 and all that.”

Rory nodded. When he’d been a child, he’d sometimes imagined being a secret agent. The fantasies had usually involved him being handsome and impressive. Now he was lying on the couch of a secret agent, looking anything but handsome and impressive.

“Where’s the Doctor?”

“He’s in the spare room,” O said. “He wanted a bit of space to try and work out what to do about the Dylldrian problem. I _think_ he’s writing on the walls to be honest! I thought I’d let him get on with it. It’s a bit amazing, meeting him for the first time – meeting him in person, I mean. I didn’t know that it would happen.”

Rory felt a bit unsettled. It was like being a teenager again and listening to Amy gush over the mysterious man that he couldn’t compete with because he was an imaginary friend. He tried to smile. He was over that now. The Doctor was real, not imaginary and Amy loved him but she also loved Rory and they were married and competing was no longer necessary.

“Anyway, he said I should let you rest,” O continued, obviously unaware of Rory’s thoughts. “I took that to mean he didn’t want to be bothered, honestly. Do you want a cup of tea?”

“Sure,” Rory said, glad to think of something normal. “Can I help?”

“No, don’t be silly! Let me! Is your arm all right? Want some painkillers?”

“No, it’s fine,” Rory said, although it did ache a bit. He wasn’t going to say that though. He stood up and stretched a little, looking at it. There was dried blood on it but someone had bandaged it carefully. He had a feeling that it was the Doctor’s handiwork.

“You know, I’ve met a few of the Doctor’s friends and you’re not what I expected,” O said thoughtfully.

“I’m not?”

“No. Not in a bad way! But you know, he’s usually with women, you know? Pretty ones usually – sorry, does that make me sound a bit pervy? They’re always very smart too, it’s amazing. And when there are men around, they’re a bit, you know ... military, I guess. You look like that’s not really you. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course! Military men can be pretty irritating, all that brawn and strutting ...”

Rory was beginning to think that he’d never felt uglier or stupider in his life. He wondered about trying to explain that he’d lived a life as a Centurion but it seemed like it would be a bit ridiculous. He’d literally just thought about how he didn’t need to compete and now he was competing with men that he’d never even met!

“Sorry,” O said, looking awkward. “Did I put my foot in it? I do that sometimes. This is why I always end up with the weird jobs at work.”

Rory smiled quickly.

“No, it’s fine! I’m not ... I mean, my wife, Amy, she’s the one who met the Doctor first, I’m just ... along for the ride really.”

“Oh no! No, I’m sure that he likes you just as much!” O said quickly. He was obviously trying to help but Rory couldn’t help feeling very slightly worse. That was the kind of voice you used when you wanted people to think they were doing well when they actually weren’t. 

“I mean, the Doctor likes everybody, doesn’t he?” O continued, apparently thinking that if he kept talking, this would go better. “It’s one of the things that’s so lovely about him. I mean ... does that sound wrong? Maybe I meant fascinating? Maybe it wears off when you’ve known him a while. Um. Tea. Milk? Sugar? I always take far too much sugar, can’t help it, bit of a weakness, you know, sweet tooth. I’ve got biscuits too ... ”

Rory decided that he liked O. Somehow, travelling with the Doctor always seemed to introduce him to people who were terribly competent. It was nice to hear someone who babbled a bit, even if some of it was at Rory’s expense. Though, as O was MI6 so he couldn’t be _that_ incompetent, surely? Just a bit clumsy with words then. MI6 clearly wasn’t as suave as James Bond.

“How did you end up finding out about the Doctor?” he asked.

“Well, there’s all sorts of bits of knowledge rustling around various government organisations,” O said, cradling his own cup of tea. “A lot of them think that it’s all nonsense but I got ... well, interested. There were too many bits and pieces that I wanted to put together, so I did. For a little bit, it did rather make me look like one of those weirdoes on the Internet, you know, with a Serial Killer Wall – only rather than being a serial killer, it’s putting together clues. But I was asking the right questions and I met the right people – several of them actually. Honestly, I never imagined that I’d meet the Doctor in person though, it’s quite ... to be honest, I’m in a bit of a flutter!”

“I think that’s normal,” Rory said. “Most people get like that about him.”

“Must be hard if your wife did!” O said. “Oh ... I hope that wasn’t ... it’s just a few of them fall in love with him a bit ... ”

“It’s fine,” Rory said firmly, glad to feel on a solid footing for once. “She married me.”

He had a feeling that O didn’t quite believe him but he didn’t care. That was something that he did know. Amy loved the Doctor but she loved him too and Rory was fine with that. O didn’t know Amy, no matter what research he’d done on everybody else the Doctor had ever met.

“Did I hear tea? Any for – _Rory!_ ”

The Doctor sounded so relieved. Rory turned around to smile at him and then nearly fell back into the table as the Doctor grabbed him and kissed him.

It was not the first time. The Doctor had a habit of kissing people – any people really. Rory had been on the end of it a couple of times and he’d grumpily told Amy once that he didn’t like it. She’d laughed at him, thrown a pillow in his direction and told him to get over it. Then waggled her eyebrows in that way that she had and said that she would be quite happy if he and the Doctor kissed a bit more while she could watch. Rory had thrown the pillow back at her and refused to talk about it any more. He’d thought about it sometimes though, on and off. In a vague sort of way. It had never been the kisses exactly, more the surprise of them.

This time though – maybe it was because his arm still ached and he’d nearly died (again) and the Doctor seemed so worried – the surprise was rather good. And so Rory kissed him back. He half-expected the Doctor to pull away but the Doctor didn’t – or not until O gave a small cough. Even then, it was Rory who stepped back, feeling embarrassed. The Doctor grinned cheerfully as though everything was quite normal.

“Oooh! Jammy dodgers! I like Jammy Dodgers!”

O laughed and handed the packet over. The Doctor promptly handed it to Rory. His fingers were covered in pen, which he didn’t seem to have noticed.

“I don’t suppose you’ve got any useful bits and bobs around here, have you? There’s a machine that I could make that we could use to calm the Dylldrians down long enough to get them back to their own planet but it might need a bit of specialised equipment ... ”

“And we need to find Amy,” Rory interjected. “Even if she’s not in danger, she’ll end up in it because she’ll be looking for us!”

“I can definitely help with that,” O said. “I’ve got friends that I can call, they won’t ask too many questions. If you give me her name and what she looks like and a message, we can reunite you all in the morning.”

“Tell her the Raggedy Man and Centurion are safe,” Rory said. “She’ll know that’s from us.”

“Raggedy Man and Centurion?” O repeated. “Sounds like there’s stories there! All right, I can do that. And Doctor, if you give me a list of things you need, I can probably get them picked up for you. Without official MI6 involvement. It’s not that I don’t trust the people I work for but ... ”

He trailed off with a small shrug. The Doctor smiled.

“Good man. You know, it’s nice to actually meet you. You’re sort of ... taller than I expected. You felt like you should be short, in my mind.”

“Is that a good thing?” O asked, raising an eyebrow. “Never mind actually. I’m still shorter than both of you, how short did you want me to be?”

“You get used to him saying things like that,” Rory said.

The Doctor gave him one of his innocently baffled looks. He took the bit of paper O handed him and wrote a long list of increasingly unlikely sounding bits of equipment which O didn’t bat an eyelid at.

“I’d better go and make these phone calls! Oh, and I’ll find you something to sleep in Rory, if you like. I’m assuming you’re going to stay the night?”

“Probably best,” the Doctor said. “I’ll need to put something together or they’ll just swam us again and that won’t do us any good. Don’t worry though! I’ve got at least five brilliant ideas and about fourteen good ones! I might have written them all on your walls though ... sorry about that ... ”

O laughed. He was giving the Doctor an admiring look which Rory was quite used to seeing. He wondered if the Doctor had noticed it. It was so hard to tell what the Doctor noticed. He’d seem completely oblivious, then come out with something incredibly insightful. You got used to it.

“I’ll go and make some phone calls,” O said and walked away. The Doctor thoughtfully handed Rory back the biscuits.

“I’m glad you’re all right,” he said and he’d switched suddenly from ebullient cheer to the quiet sincerity that sometimes emerged along with that insightfulness. “You shouldn’t have done that. You could have been killed.”

“Yeah, well,” Rory said and gave a small shrug. “You’re important.”

“So are you. You’re _Rory_. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“Amy would forgive you,” Rory said. He was feeling embarrassed. 

“She wouldn’t. But that’s not the point. I don’t want anything to happen to you because you’re _Rory_ and _I_ want to keep you safe.”

The Doctor said it all as though it was a simple, obvious fact. He gripped Rory’s shoulders, staring at him with that intense look of his. Rory liked the intense look. It always meant that the Doctor was really focusing, really _doing_ something and having it entirely focused on you was quite overwhelming.

On impulse, he leaned forward and gave the Doctor another kiss. He kept it light and gentle. The Doctor blinked and then smiled and Rory felt surprisingly warm inside.

“All right!” O bounced back into the room, obviously absolutely unaware that he was interrupting something. “That was easy. I’ve got someone picking up your Amy – looks like she’s already drawn a bit of attention so that should be easy enough. And someone is coming round with the list you gave me, Doctor, though that’ll take a little longer, you’ve got some oddities in there! Here Rory, this is for you – sorry they’re a little faded but they ought to fit all right – just about anyway, you’ll have some ankle sticking out! You should probably go to bed, honestly, this will all take ages and you lost quite a bit of blood earlier. Have you drunk all your tea?”

Rory accepted the faded pyjamas with a smile. He rather wished O hadn’t interrupted but it had happened and Rory was nothing if not patient.

He and the Doctor would talk about this again.

*

_It’s probably a dream._

_Rory’s not sure what wakes him up but something does. The Doctor is curled up and asleep for once so Rory doesn’t bother him. It’s probably not important anyway, it’s just that he feels like something is somehow wrong. That kind of paranoia hits sometimes, it comes from travelling with the Doctor when something so often is._

_He gets up and leaves the room. The flat is dark but there’s a glimmer of light under O’s door and Rory realises that there’s a sound too, a faint, rhythmic beeping, like a heart monitor. He moves to the door, wondering if it’s an alarm but it doesn’t sound loud enough for that. He hears O murmur something and Rory feels a prickle of unease and pushes the door open a crack to peer inside._

_O is sitting on the floor. There’s something on his lap, something glowing and complicated and quite clearly alien. His head snaps up and he looks up at Rory and he smiles and it’s not the friendly smile of earlier, it’s huge and awful and gleeful and Rory feels his stomach drop into his feet as he realises that something has gone very wrong._

_“Rory Williams. Not as stupid as I thought then. Or maybe you are. No, no, don’t spoil it now ... ”_

_He moves so fast; unfolding and darting forward in a horribly swift movement, one hand clamping around Rory’s arm, the other coming up to cover Rory’s mouth as Rory opens it to shout for the Doctor. He moves close, staring at Rory intently and Rory tries to move away but he can’t and he can’t seem to look away from O’s eyes either._

_“No struggling or shouting. That’s it. Good boy.”_

_Rory wants to struggle. He wants to shout. But O is staring at him so intently that he can’t; he can’t seem to do anything except stare back._

_“Yes, you’re quite right, Rory. I brought the Dylldrians here. I thought it would be fun. It is, isn’t it? Well, I suppose you might not agree. Arm still sore? I wish they’d got you properly, it would have been funnier but there you are, can’t have everything and hey, they’ll get a second go at you tomorrow, won’t they? So I can’t let you remember this, I’m afraid. That would ruin everything. So just keep looking and listening, Rory. Well. You can’t do anything else, can you?”_

_O smiles and strokes his cheek lightly and then starts talking and Rory knows he’s listening but he can’t exactly hear, he can’t do anything except listen, even though he doesn’t want to. He’s sinking somewhere very dark and very deep –_

*

Rory blinked awake. It was odd, he felt as though he’d been having some sort of uncomfortable dream, something that he really didn’t like but it had already faded into nothingness. Probably about the Dylldrians – anybody would have a nightmare about them.

The Doctor was awake now (now? He’d probably never slept.) and was sitting on the floor, building something. Rory looked at him for a moment, wondering if he’d woken in the night and seen the Doctor doing that. It seemed vaguely familiar.

“Morning Rory!” the Doctor said cheerfully. “Did you sleep well? O’s making breakfast! I think he said it would involve bacon ... I’m not sure. He said you could shower and he’s washed your clothes from yesterday!”

Rory nodded. He felt very faintly disconnected somehow but he supposed it was because he’d just woken up. He gave the Doctor a smile and got up, hoping a shower would wake him a bit. There was going to be alien fighting that day, you couldn’t be sluggish when dealing with aliens.

O had left a towel out for him, along with a note saying Rory could use anything he wanted. Rory showered, then dressed, feeling more comfortable in his own things again. At least they fitted and weren’t revealing several centimetres of ankle! He felt more awake and yet still on edge and he wasn’t sure why. Perhaps it was just worrying about Amy but he wasn’t sure that was it. He was often worried about Amy and it didn’t feel like this, generally. There was something else, he was sure, something ...

“Are you all right?”

O was staring at him and Rory realised that he’d wandered back into the kitchen without really remembering doing it. O was wearing an apron and had made a proper breakfast. He smiled at Rory and Rory smiled back automatically.

“I think I didn’t sleep well,” he said.

“Ah,” O said. He leaned forward and snapped his fingers in front of Rory’s eyes. Rory blinked and leaned back.

“What was that for?”

“Just something that we sometimes do in MI6 if someone looks a bit sleepy. You feel better now, don’t you?”

Rory supposed that he did a bit, although he wasn’t sure why. He was beginning to think that O was a bit weird. Still, he was kind too. The breakfast was extremely nice. O had obviously got good at cooking somewhere along the line. Rory was in the middle of the Doctor’s (the Doctor had announced he was far too busy to eat) when O’s phone rang.

He knew at once that it wasn’t anything good.

“Doctor,” O said. “There’s reports of strange things in the sky around the local hospital. People are trying to say that it’s some sort of set of drones but I think – ”

The Doctor was on his feet immediately. Rory jumped up too, trying not to panic.

“They shouldn’t start doing anything,” the Doctor said. “Yet. It’s early in the morning, they’re probably just gathering. But they seem ... lively. Too lively.”

“Perhaps being on Earth is confusing them,” O suggested as they ran to the van. “I mean, there’s a _lot_ of testosterone here. It might be inspiring.”

“Good point, yeah. Might be it. It’s very strange ... I think there’s something else ... maybe ... ”

“You think someone brought them here,” Rory said quietly.

The Doctor and O both looked at him. It was odd – the Doctor looked impressed but O looked almost annoyed. Rory wondered if he was a bit jealous. He couldn’t help feeling a bit smug about that. O had clearly been working so hard to impress the Doctor, it was nice to have beaten him to it for once.

“Yes,” the Doctor said. “I can’t understand why there would be such a swarm otherwise. And rifts and things _do_ open but it seems strange that so many would come through ... ”

Rory felt that niggle again inside, a strange sensation that something somewhere wasn’t quite right, that he had something to say – only he didn’t know what it was. It drifted away almost as soon as it had come, leaving a slightly vague sensation behind. The Doctor would sort it out. He always did. 

They reached the hospital quickly. The was a cordon around it but they were waved through when O showed his card. Rory looked around for Amy – somehow, he knew that if she were there, he’d spot her immediately – but she wasn’t. The Dylldrians were though. He could see them buzzing around the roof, apparently not interested in the people running around on the ground.

“We need to be careful,” the Doctor said. “They’ll remember us – especially you, Rory, that one got you. I want you two to both stay in the van, all right? I’ll just go, use this amazing gizmo of mine and neutralise them and then we can sent them home. All super easy really! No need for all this fuss!”

“Doctor – ”

“Nope! No argument! You, van. Me, hospital.”

The Doctor sprang out, slammed the door and ran. Rory threw his hands up.

“He’s always like that! Why is he always like that?”

O didn’t answer. He was looking at Rory in the mirror. Rory couldn’t help feeling peculiar when O stared at him like that. There was something about him ... it was confusing. 

“So what are you going to do now?” O asked.

Rory got out of the van. He was half-way into the hospital before it occurred to him just how stupid it was. If the Doctor told you to stay put, it was really not bad idea to listen. But then, he was pretty sure that Amy wouldn’t have listened. If the Doctor needed her, she was there. Rory didn’t think that he ought to be different. And besides, this felt the right thing to do, somehow. As though he just had to follow his feet.

The hospital was quiet, too quiet and Rory guessed they were evacuating. He hurried towards the top of the building, knowing that was where the Doctor would have gone. As he got closer, he realised that he could hear the Dylldrians buzzing. They were getting louder. Was it Rory’s imagination or did they sound more aggressive?

He heard the Doctor yell and broke into a run. There was the sound of a door slamming and the aggressive buzzing got louder. Rory threw himself round a corner and saw the Doctor trying to fend one of them off.

“Oy!” he yelled and the Dylldrian paused, clearly uncertain which one it should go for. This seemed to give the Doctor second wind and he pointed his Sonic Screwdriver at it. There was a sharp whine and the Dylldrian dropped to the floor, making a faint squeaking noise. The Doctor carefully pushed it into a room and slammed the door before turning.

“Rory! I told you to stay in the car!”

“Yeah, but I didn’t,” Rory said. “What can I do?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t got that far yet! I don’t know why they’re so angry! Someone must be aggravating them, maybe someone in the hospital ... ”

“No time to find them,” Rory said firmly. “People need to be in the hospital. We need to get rid of the Dylldrians, Doctor! Now what can I do?”

“Hold this!” The Doctor thrust the machine he’d made into Rory’s hands. “I need to use the Sonic Screwdriver a minute.”

Rory stared at the machine. For a moment, he felt a strange urge to fiddle with it. It was ridiculous, he had no idea what it was actually supposed to do but he felt as though if he touched that lever, if he twisted that dial ...

He stopped himself, annoyed. He was a _nurse_. The one thing you learned as a nurse was not to fiddle with anything you didn’t understand! Why was he being so ridiculous today?

“You all right?” The Doctor was staring at him.

“I’m fine,” Rory said firmly and he suddenly meant it. He finally seemed to have shaken off the oddness that had been following him throughout the morning. “Come on Doctor, Amy will never forgive us if we don’t sort this out!”

“Good point. The wrath of Amy Pond ... nobody needs that! Come along, Rory!”

*

It was surprisingly easy after that. The Doctor let Rory use his polarity machine (Rory was pretty sure he’d called it that) while he’d used his sonic screwdriver to boost a hospital machine which apparently blocked whatever was making the Dylldrians more aggressive. Without that – and with the Doctor’s machine – the Dylldrians became rather quiet and lazy. Then it was just a matter of carefully getting them into cages – cages which O had provided. The Doctor was intending on putting them all in the TARDIS and taking them back to their own home world. Rory couldn’t help worrying a bit about this step but he knew there was no arguing. It wasn’t as though they could leave them on Earth after all and the Doctor would never have wanted them killed. Rory didn’t want them killed honestly. They were beautiful things when they weren’t buzzing around trying to kill _you._

“They’re fine on their own planet,” the Doctor said as they carefully loaded them into a van. “I still wish I knew who brought them here ... ”

“That’s my job, Doctor,” O said firmly. “We’ll sort it, believe me. This won’t happen again.”

He sounded very positive. The Doctor beamed at him and Rory thought that it was pretty nice to be able to leave something to a professional for once. Not that the Doctor _wasn’t_ professional but sometimes, he did do things in a roundabout way and sometimes, that was ridiculous.

But sometimes, it was wonderful too.

They drove the van to where they had left the TARDIS. Amy was waiting outside, propped against it, grinning at them.

“Had all the fun without me boys? Fine, see if I care. You wait until the next planet we get to, I’ll leave you both in the dust!”

Rory hugged her. Amy hugged him back, then grinned even more widely.

“Oh, hello! Doctor made a new friend?”

Rory turned and saw that O was giving the Doctor a proper kiss right on the lips. The Doctor seemed rather surprised – his hands were doing the fluttery thing that Rory had seen before – but he also seemed to be enjoying it.

“Sorry,” O said, stepping back. “I just thought that might be nice.”

“Honestly, I leave you all alone for five minutes,” Amy said. “The Doctor gets a boyfriend and Rory gets hurt – don’t think I haven’t seen that bandage on your arm mister! Need help with the crates? Let’s get them out.”

“I’d better go,” O said, sounding regretful. “There’s a lot of things that need tidying up, they’ll be annoyed if I’m not there. We’ll meet again, won’t we Doctor? Remember to text me!”

He helped them unload the crates before going. He seemed quite shy around Amy, which Rory thought was only sensible. Amy was in one of her slightly brittle good moods – she was obviously not pleased that the Doctor and Rory had been in danger without her.

“It was lovely to meet you all,” O said when the work was done. He looked at Rory. “You too. You know, you were a bit of a surprise.”

“I was?” Rory said blankly. He didn’t think he’d done anything particularly unusual.

“Yes. Stronger than you look.”

For a second, he thought that O was smirking at him and it wasn’t quite a friendly look. But then it was gone and O was smiling normally and shaking his hand. He shook the Doctor’s hand too, giving it an extra little squeeze and then he was in his van and gone.

“Handsome guy,” Amy said. “Seemed nice.”

“He lent Rory pyjamas!” the Doctor said, as though that was the most important thing that O had done. “Right! Crates into the TARDIS and to the planet Llyrion. It’s quite nice there actually, only the Dylldrians are a bit of a problem ... ”

Rory looked at Amy and they both rolled their eyes. Rory put an arm around Amy’s shoulder and gave her a squeeze. She leaned against him a little, showing she wasn’t that mad at him.

“Amy?”

“Yeah?”

“Hypothetically, you know you said that time that if I kissed the Doctor, you wouldn’t mind that much ...?”

Amy grinned at him. Rory grinned back and together, they walked into the TARDIS to join their Doctor.


End file.
